19 June 2020

Dear Parents

We hope you have had a good week. At school this week we take further steps towards a wider reopening with the return of some more of our Year 6 children and Key Worker children.

Thank you to everyone who responded to our home learning feedback survey. We believe that in light of the government’s decision against other year groups returning to school it is the right time to review our home learning practices. Below is a summary of the feedback received from parents which was overwhelmingly positive. Thank you for all of the positive comments received, they are so heart-warming and uplifting for the staff as a whole to read. Also detailed below are some of the changes that we will be making over the next month based on improvements that you have suggested. With regards to plans for September, we have not yet received any further guidance or plans from the Department of Education. A range of contingency plans are currently being made by the Saint Nicholas Owen Multi Academy Company and will be communicated with parents at the earliest opportunity.

Are the home learning plans are easily accessed through the school website/app?

Over 95% of parents that responded said the home learning plans were easily or very easily accessed. If you have any issues in accessing the home learning resources on our school website, please contact the school office.

How are you finding the current workload that’s being sent out?

Over two thirds of parents that responded said that the amount of work provided was about right with 23% saying that too much work was provided. We would like to reassure parents that you can only do what you can do under the circumstances we are faced with. Families’ well-being continues to be the most important thing at the moment.

On an average day, how much time are you spending on home learning?

40% of families are spending between 1 and 3 hours on school work daily with 40% of parents spending less than an hour working on their home learning activities. Again, we would encourage parents to just do as much as they can do with reading and maths being priority areas to focus on.

On the whole, how difficult is it to encourage your child to complete home learning?

Over two thirds of parents said their children were easy or very easy to engage in their work with 17% of parents saying that the ease was varied. Please see below for ways in which we will be modifying the home learning format. We would always encourage parents to contact their child’s class teacher via email if you are really struggling to engage your child at home.

 Would you rather that the weekly home learning plan was set out by subject (current format) or by day?

Again, two thirds of parents preferred the home learning plan to be arranged by subject which is the current format used by Years R-3. Many comments indicated that this format gave their families the freedom to plot out their learning activities according to how it would best suit what was happening at home. We will continue to set out home learning plans by subject for Years R-3 and by day for Years 4-6 but will provide a suggested timetable to help parents that may wish to arrange their learning activities by day.

Has your child participated in a Zoom chat with their teacher?

89% of parents that responded said their child had taken part in a Zoom chat with their class teacher.

Do you feel that your child has enjoyed/benefited from taking part in the Zoom chat?

69% of parents said that their child enjoyed or benefitted from taking part in a Zoom chat with their class. Several comments were made by parents that they felt their child would benefit from regular video chats with their class and class teacher. Zoom chats that have been held to date have had an attendance rate of anywhere from 30 – 50% of the class.

Below are a selection of comments made in response to the final four questions.

What do you think has gone well so far with regards to home learning?

Work sheets and oak academy are great.

The activities are interesting and varied.  The topic themes have been really great and inspiring. My child is especially loving the topic work.

The wide variety of resources provided alongside the very comprehensive 'home learning plan' provides a very good structure with all the resources at your fingertips.

The variety of home learning tasks. The mix of creative and more formal learning. The way the timetable is set out, is very clear and easy to follow, work and hyperlink is easily accessible.

What do you think could be improved with regards to home learning?

Having the work available earlier in the weekend rather than on a Sunday afternoon to give more time to print off what is needed.

Maybe a once a week zoom keeping that contact with the school and encourage better work efforts from my child.

A zoom call at least once a week to discuss the week ahead and to bounce off ideas with the class as to what they will need to do.

If your child is not engaging with any home learning, what is the main reason for this?

They do not have their peers to offer the interaction and support.

Usually my child is being distracted by her brother!

Simply because it is at home. We have used laptops and videos to make it more interesting.

I think it's boredom and home distractions, being stuck inside. Lack of interaction with other students and teachers. Possibly being at home doesn't set the stage for 'school time' and focusing on such.

Please use the space below to provide any other feedback that you would like to give.

What the school has provided to date has been great given the circumstances. However come September the system would have to be different if they are not back at school at least part time.

I feel that my child is missing out on much needed social interaction to work on his communication skills.

I'd like to thank you all for your hard work and support in very difficult and unusual circumstances. I think the way you have given out work, compared to other schools which I've heard about has been really good.

I couldn't be more happy with the work that has been set and the feedback that has been given to any emails that we have sent.

Changes to Home Learning

• Home learning plans will be uploaded to the school website/app by 8:00pm on a Friday night to ensure that parents have adequate time over the weekend to prepare for the week ahead.
• Weekly Zoom chats will be held for all classes over the next month with focus for each meeting be that a quiz or a sharing of work. Two transition themed Zoom chats will be organised with your child's current class teacher and their new teacher for next year and these will take place in the last two weeks of this term. We would encourage all parents to endeavour to have their child take part in these video calls.
• If you wish to have a one to one phone call with your child's class teacher at any point, please use your year group email address to arrange directly with the relevant member of staff.
• As always, teachers are very happy to provide feedback on your child's work - please email a copy or a photograph to the email address detailed on the home learning plan. As all of our staff are now back in school and looking after children, please be aware that it may take them longer than usual to reply. Please be reassured though that they will be in contact as soon as possible.
• Home learning plans will continue to be set out by subject for Years R-3 and by day for Years 4-6 but we will provide a suggested timetable to help parents that may wish to arrange their learning activities by day.
• If you require any more exercise books for your child's home learning, they will be available to collect from Monday between 10:00am and 2:00pm from a table outside the main office. You will need to enter the site via the pedestrian gate, ensuring that you maintain a 2m distance from any other parents and then exit via the pedestrian access to the car park.

Please keep an eye out on the Facebook page and the weekly newsletter for further updates and activities over the next few weeks. Again, we thank the parents that responded to this survey and value the feedback that we have received.

We end this week also with something lovely. Mrs Warnett is delighted to share the news that she is expecting a baby, due in December. I am sure you join us in congratulating Mr and Mrs Warnett and their little boy, Joshua.

Once again, your children's photographs from home are a joy to receive and thank you for continuing to send them to us. We hope you enjoy them.

God bless and take care, from all the staff

Well done to all our children!